


the last last one

by la_victorienne



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-21
Updated: 2008-07-21
Packaged: 2018-10-16 00:46:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10560540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_victorienne/pseuds/la_victorienne
Summary: in which the team hikes through the himalayas, ianto and owen are rude to each other, and toshiko sleeps.





	

  
“God, you’d never think that I’d miss the common Cardiff cow, would you?” Owen rasped, pulling his knit cap further down on his head. “Better attitudes, better taste, better everything, far as I’m concerned.”

“Oh, shut up, Owen,” Gwen retorted. “The kiangs are really quite useful, and you know it, and yak doesn’t taste much different. Where else would we have put Tosh, the poor girl?” Owen looked back at Toshiko’s curled and sleeping form, her ankle wrapped in the last of their athletic bandages and a smattering of furs to keep it warm, and sighed.

“You’re right, I guess. Still, who isn’t itching for a delicious and incredibly unhealthy hamburger? Eh, Ianto?” Ianto, face covered by a scarf his mam had knit, mumbled a reply. “What was that? I’m sorry, your pink scarf got in the way. It sounded like you said either ‘I prefer to eat yak’ or ‘I prefer to eat Jack,’ and I’m really not sure which.” Ianto lifted two gloved fingers in Owen’s direction and rolled his eyes, pulling the scarf down with his other hand.

“First-off, the scarf is maroon and not pink, and I said ‘I prefer to eat yak,’ tosser, because it’s better for you than beef in Wales. Less chance of mad cow, which, frankly, I’m afraid you might have contracted, considering your recent behavior.” Satisfied with himself, he resettled the scarf over his nose and forged ahead, wedging one snow boot in the mountain and offering Gwen a hand up.

“Well played, Ianto,” she congratulated, and he squinted his eyes in that way that let her know he was smiling. “It looks like there’s a cave up ahead,” she called, cupping a hand over the bridge of her nose to see better in the blinding snow. “We can set up camp for the night; when Tosh wakes she can set up detection equipment for the Yeti. Have I mentioned that I hate Harold Saxon for this? Prime Minister not one month and he wants Torchwood to investigate a Yeti?”

“We’ve heard,” Owen grumbled, pulling himself up over the ledge as Ianto found a path for the kiang holding Tosh. “Harold Saxon this, Harold Saxon that. Did you or did you not vote for the man, and if you did, is it because you want to shag him instead of Rhys?” Gwen rolled her eyes and pushed him lightly, grinning a little.

“No, Owen,” Ianto called through his scarf, “that was me. Sorry to have to tell you this way, but he was a bit of a rebound gone wrong, and we’re here because he’s punishing me.” Gwen laughed.

“Oh, Tosh is going to be sorry she missed that one,” she giggled, and took the kiang reins with a light squeeze to Ianto’s hand. “Come on, forward march for you all, I want to get a fire well going before nightfall.”

“God, I hate camping,” Owen muttered, but set off at speed behind Gwen, leaving Ianto to bring up their little caravan’s rear. Ianto paused, took a moment to survey the landscape, diamond white and sparkling. High in the Himalayas, learning each other, becoming a team, and all he could think about was what Jack would say when he finally came back, if he finally came back. Ianto closed his eyes, took a deep breath, the cold searing his lungs and igniting a fire in his belly, and let loose a wildly directed prayer to the things unknown in the universe. _Let Jack be all right. Let him come home. Let us live; let Tosh wake and recover; let Gwen believe and lead; let Owen learn to breathe. And me. Let me have him back._

He breathed again and continued on, ready for a warm fire and a few hours sleep. At the end of the world, and all he could think to do was keep going.


End file.
